Prada Mode Seoul Arrives for Frieze Week

Coinciding with this year’s edition of Frieze Seoul, fashion house Prada introduced the 10th edition of its international pop-up series, Prada Mode, with a takeover of the Seoul venue KOTE. On September 5 and 6, the destination was transformed at the hand of curator Lee Sook-kyung with the concept “Plural and Parallel.” At KOTE, visitors were greeted by an environment of compelling installations that centered contemporary cinema and the work of noteworthy film directors, alongside cultural happenings like conversations, performances, and seated dinners.

Prada Mode Seoul unfolded a multiverse of experiences, where directors Kim Jee-woon, Yeon Sang-ho, and Jeong Dahee were invited to put their visionary touch on a site-specific concept. These environments, filled with framed images, film projection screens, interior displays of furniture and food, were the basis of explorations into culinary culture, absence, and mortality.

“Films impact cultures by reflecting the values and ideas that already exist in a given culture but also by opening up new possibilities and visions. What we see in films are both reflections of realities and promises of imagined worlds, a product and prompt of collective imagination,” said Prada Mode curator, Lee Sook-Kyung. “Kim Jee-Woon, Yeon Sang-ho, and Jeong Dahee create distinctive worlds in their films that are at once products of contemporary South Korea and inspirations for different possibilities. Prada Mode Seoul will highlight their uniquely diverse visions by providing three separate yet interconnected spaces, each representing the individual director’s version of actual and imagined reality.”

On its opening day, Prada Mode Seoul debuted with two conversations. The first was a talk between Yeon Sang-ho, Yang Ik-june, and moderator Cho Young-kag, discussing how Yeon Sang-ho’s artistic work Hellbound was carried across the boundaries of different forms of content. The second discussion, “Kim Jee-woon’s Films: Space and Objects,” featured the director in conversation with film critic Ju Sung-chul, regarding Kim Jee-woon’s use of “space objects” and architectural space in his films. Next, came a viewing of the musical performance “Janchi,” accompanied by Kim Kira’s Korean street food experience, before DJs Chae and Jesse You closed out the evening with a dance party.

The second day began with the conversation “Drawing Poetry: Metaphors in Jeong Dahee’s Films.” This saw the film critic Kim Haery in a discussion with the director, touching upon Dahee’s animated films and her library installation at KOTE, featuring a concept based on lights, shadows, and drawings. Next was the workshop “Appreciating Animations for Adults: Discovery of Questions,” where participants studied imaged-based storytelling with the Korean author Muru; a cine-concert recreating a live soundscape alongside one of Jeong Dahee’s films. It all culminated with late-night performances that kicked off with DJ Chae and concluded the event with a set by DJ Gothicc.